Mobile Roaming Revenues to Stay Flat As ‘Roam Like At Home’ Goes Global

A new study from Juniper Research found that operator revenues from international mobile roaming are expected to recover slightly, following a decline in 2017 after the introduction of RLAH (Roam Like at Home) in Europe and other markets.

Overall roaming revenues, however, are expected to stay flat over the next four years, representing around 6 per cent of total operator billed revenues and $51 billion in value.

In 2017, Juniper estimates that data traffic grew by 200 per cent globally and by 260 per cent in West Europe.

Research author Nitin Bhas said, “While the overall proportion of silent roamers continues to fall in many markets, driven by RLAH and cheaper bundles, the market also witnessed operators extending RLAH to more countries over the past 12-18 months. Additionally, a number of neighbouring countries are announcing roam-free intra-regional agreements, similar to the EU”.

Juniper estimated that the proportion of silent roamers not using any data roaming services in 2018 accounted for 51 per cent of total data roamers globally, down from 72 per cent in 2013.

Following Britain’s decision to leave the EU, it has been reported that, in the event of a no-deal Brexit, mobile operators will be able to implement roaming charges if needed. Under such a scenario, Juniper expects that the average roaming spend per active UK roamer would nearly double by the end of 2022 due to higher costs, compared to the current estimates of $58.

But Juniper says it considers such a situation to be unlikely and instead operators will continue to focus on other revenue streams, such as providing managed services in the IoT sector.

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